Grant Ellis’ next chapter: How basketball built ‘The Bachelor’ star
WHEN GRANT ELLIS was a freshman playing for the Iona Gaels, he needed to fight for his area. He didn’t have time for any possible distractions. Romantic relationships didn’t cross his mind.He was focused on something: basketball.Editor’s Picks 2 Related Fast forward to
2025 and Ellis,
with his basketball career long behind him, is starring in Season 29 of “The Bachelor.” Ellis was called back to reality television after being a participant on” The Bachelorette”in 2024. The previous hooper was among the last 5 participants on the program before being sent out home right before hometown dates.Now? He’s serving as the titular figure on a program that began with 25 ladies vying for his heart. On Mar. 31, fans will see as he picks in between the final two contestants.Basketball spent for Ellis’education and carried him through a substantial career that consisted of playing
for leading high school programs, Division-I in college and expertly overseas. But his particular focus on the game didn’t come without sacrifice.”I always was training, training, training,”Ellis informed ESPN.”And I thought I saw it as my escape.
So I didn’t put a great deal of emphasis on my relationships. I lived, ate and breathed basketball maturing. So I didn’t truly have relationships like that.” ELLIS GREW UP in Newark, New Jersey, where he found his love for basketball. His father, Robert Ellis, presented him to the game at 8 years old.”My daddy was the one who utilized to take me to Jersey City and Newark and drop me off at the park and like, have me bet the older kids. And he was the one that would be at the games arguing with the other fathers,” Ellis stated. “He was the one that was the basketball guy. My mommy was simply helpful in anything I did.”In Ellis’early years of playing basketball, his household went through a tumultuous time. His dad struggled with a drug dependency and had
several criminal convictions. It disrupted the environment of the Ellis household. In the very first episode of”The Bachelor,”Ellis shared that his moms and dads frequently argued, leading him to turn to basketball as an escape from his family’s tension. “Growing up, I had a great deal of problems in my household. My father had a little bit of a distressed past. So, in order for me to get away from the impacts that came in the outdoors world, I would play basketball,” Ellis informed ESPN.The sport not just provided him with an escape from his difficulties in the house, but likewise it ended up being a shield from the unfavorable impacts around him.” I believe that I’m a truly difficult worker, and that’s something that translates from basketball over to my real life,” stated Ellis.”As sometimes as I failed on the court, I never gave up on myself.” Iona Athletics”A great deal of times coming up, I was protected since I could hoop,” Ellis stated. “It was a thing where I would go outdoors and people would be doing stuff and they ‘d resemble’ Nah, he’s a ball player,’ or’he’s a hooper.’So it was an excellent way for me to actually stay concentrated and prioritize my wellbeing.”Starting from when I was in primary school to grade school, to intermediate school to high school, I constantly used basketball to leave my concerns
and my problems. And I seem like it’s a really good outlet.”STANDING AT 6-FOOT-5, Ellis was a combo guard at Hudson Catholic High School in Jersey City, New Jersey. “I was pretty aggressive on the court but I was
the type of guy that did the things that required to get done to win,”Ellis stated.”I was a winner. And I always played for the top programs
in the state. “A two-star hire where he was ranked the 135th small forward nationwide, 127th in the area and the 20th finest player in New Jersey, Ellis received interest from College of
Charleston, Manhattan Jaspers, Florida Atlantic Owls, Fairleigh Dickinson Knights and Iona. Iona and Manhattan were the only schools that used him a scholarship.In Sept. 2011, Ellis verbally committed to Iona, becoming the first Hudson Catholic basketball player in 2 seasons to make a Department I scholarship. The Gaels had actually just completed the 2011-12 season with a 25-8 record and made a No. 14 seed in the NCAA tournament.Ellis invested 2 seasons at Iona, earning a trip to the 2013 NCAA tournament, where the then-15 seed Gaels was up to the No. 2 seed Ohio State Buckeyes in the second round of the West Regional.“Being a bachelor, it takes a great deal of resilience,”said Ellis. “You have to go through a lot. It’s a romance, but it’s also reality television, where you get
roughly criticized. “Iona Sports He then transferred to the Southern Jaguars for the 2015-16 season but was forced to sit out due to the NCAA transfer rule.At the start of the 2016 spring semester, Ellis made another move-this time to Division III Albertus Magnus College. He immediately stuck out by averaging over 12 points per game his first season. Ellis was called second-team All-GNAC in 2016-17 where he was the second-leading scorer, balancing 19.1 points per game.After college, Ellis started his expert basketball profession overseas, playing in the Dominican Republic for 4 and a half years.In his 4th year abroad, Ellis ‘life took an unforeseen turn when he suffered an injury that needed surgery
on his shooting arm.” I’m not going to say [the injury] thwarted my profession, however it made me think about the reality of playing professional basketball overseas and how unsteady it might be for the player who’s not a super star on his group, and I began actually getting into financing,”Ellis told ESPN.”Your entire identity, being basketball and then it be taken from you is among the hardest things to go through because you don’t know, you have to develop yourself up.”DISCOVERING HIMSELF AT a crossroads expertly, Ellis relocated to Houston to be closer to his grandmother who struggled with Parkinson’s disease.During that time, Ellis was single and focused on his career. That is, until his mom took matters into her own hands.College Basketball on ESPN + Stream more than 1,500 men’s college basketball games this season from more than 20
conferences, including the Big 12, American and Atlantic 10. Watch all season on ESPN+ “I think she just got tired of her pals inquiring about me,”Ellis stated.”I
‘d visit her at work, and a few of the girls there would ask about me. And then she saw the”Golden Bachelor, “which’s why she signed me up.” The rest is history.In his preparation for being”The Bachelor
,” Ellis understood the lessons he discovered on the court could translate to his romantic endeavors.” The biggest thing [basketball] taught me in my life and being a bachelor is the art of durability. I
think that’s the main thing
that basketball taught me– and work ethic.” Being a Bachelor, it takes a lot of resilience,” Ellis said.”You need to go through a lot.
It’s a romance, but it’s likewise truth TV, where you get harshly slammed. “Ellis took another habit from his basketball toolkit into his truth television turn: watching movie. He approached the season with the exact same care as his games
, rewatching episodes back like a movie session to discover what he could’ve done better.Though Ellis doesn’t lace his sneakers up on the hardwood expertly any longer, he still sticks around the game by having fun with the Seton Hall Pirates over the summertime, keeping his competitive mindset. “I’m a little older now. I can’t leap as high, but I still got the dive shot and I’m still truly competitive,”Ellis said.Currently, Ellis is valuing the significance of balance by making time to not only experience love, however likewise life.”I pushed away a lot of things that I could have been doing due to the fact that my mentality was like’ When I make it, that’s when I’ll have a good time,'”Ellis said.
“However you got ta have the balance of work and life, since if not, you’re gon na be 40 years of ages and life is gon na pass you by.
“